1. Technical Field
This application relates to a transfer device for container handling machines such as fillers, rinsers or cappers for the handling of containers with a neck ring, with a circulating carousel on which there are handling spaces for the container, with at least one infeed starwheel.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes the filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Bottles may be labeled in a labeling station, the labeling station having a conveyer arrangement to receive bottles and to output bottles. The closing station and the labeling station may be connected by a corresponding conveyer arrangement.
Thus, in one aspect, container handling machines comprise, for example, filling machines, closing machines, rinsers, and the like. In the case of increased production ratings, they are configured as rotatable arrangements and the handling positions that hold the containers are disposed at the circumference of the carousel and the positions move the containers during handling.
The transfer device that is an object of this application relates primarily to container handling machines for the handling of containers made of plastics such as PET, for example, such as bottles that are provided with a neck ring, for example. In addition, however, the present application also teaches the use of the transfer device for all other appropriate types of containers.
Container handling machines may include, for example, filling machines, capping machines, rinsers etc. At higher capacities, these machines may employ a rotating construction, whereby the handling spaces that receive the containers may be located on the periphery of a carousel and may carry along the containers in circulation during the handling.
Plastic containers provided with a neck ring, when they are empty or are inside the handling machine, may then be handled and/or transported generally by what may be called neck handling.
As a rule, the containers may be delivered to the handling machines by devices of the prior art for the transfer of such containers by air. Inside the handling machines, the containers may be transported by means of transfer or transport starwheels which can be specially designed for the handling of containers provided with a neck ring.
In other words, the containers may be held by the neck and may be carried through the air, rather than sitting on a conveyor device to be delivered to the transport starwheels. Such a method of conveying the bottles may help prevent bottles from falling and breaking.
The transfer of the containers by air, in which the containers may be transported in an unorganized fashion and without any fixed spacing to the transfer or transport starwheels, which may transport the containers in an organized fashion and at fixed intervals, using infeed or spacing screw conveyors of the prior art which can separate the containers that may be all piled up after being delivered by the air transport system, space them at the appropriate intervals and then feed them to a transfer or transport starwheel.
The next step may be the transfer of the containers by a transfer starwheel to the carousel or handling machine.
The constructive configurations necessary to achieve this objective can be determined to a major extent by the manner in which the containers can be held in position as they circulate with the carousel of the handling machine.
If the containers may be held in position by grippers, for example, that grip said containers in the vicinity of their mouths or on the neck rings, the transport or infeed starwheels generally can have corresponding grippers, whereby the containers may be transferred from the infeed starwheel to the carousel essentially at the apparent point of contact of the two reference circles. The release by the infeed starwheel and the fixing in position by the carousel can be thereby chronologically and spatially coordinated with each other so that the transfer may be secure, fast and reliable.
If the containers can be held in position by grippers that grip the body of the containers, the infeed starwheels generally may not have any gripper elements, but starwheel pockets that may first guide the containers securely with assistance from external guides and then deliver the containers to the grippers.
A first disadvantage of the devices described above may be the large number of components required and the associated high manufacturing and maintenance costs.
In particular for cold-aseptic bottling, which continues to gain market share, such devices can be afflicted with an additional essential disadvantage, which may be that it takes a great deal of effort and expense to keep such devices sterile in continuous operation.
To resolve this problem and others, the applicant has filed applications in Germany, e.g. Federal Republic of Germany Application Nos. 103 40 365.5, 103 42 415.6 and 103 26 618.6, which relate primarily to cold-aseptic container handling machines and may therefore be concerned with, among other things, reducing the number of components and reducing the size of the necessary clean room. Federal Republic of Germany Application Nos. 103 40 365.5, 103 42 415.6 and 103 26 618.6 are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.